HERE'S the glimpse of that beanpole Welsh rapper Maggot on Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother that had a York businessman ecstatic.

Mike Stampfer, managing director of Suomi Print And Design of Lysander Close, Clifton Moor, gasped when he discovered that Maggot, of rap band Goldie Lookin' Chain, had become his sandwich board man in front of 6.5 million viewers.

"It's even in the same blue and white logo colours we had up until recently. You couldn't buy exposure like that," Mike enthused.

Following his entrepreneurial instincts Mike grabbed his digital camera and shot screen picture after screen picture of Maggot parading his corporate message.

Before you ask - no, Mike had never designed anything for Maggot. "The word, Suomi, describes Finland in much the same way as Deutchland describes Germany. I reckon he got that T-shirt on one of his Finnish gigs.

"But that's not going to stop me from putting out a leaflet," he said with a crafty smile.

NO sooner has a Diary contributor poured cold water on the search for a funny Yorkshireman ("you need a Lancastrian", insisted Jean Clark yesterday) than a candidate is put forward.

If John Smith's Brewery really is looking for a Yorkshire comedian to replace Peter Kay on its adverts (admittedly there's some confusion over this), then John and Linda Thorpe would nominate David Kendall. "He is a very funny after-dinner speaker and fellow York Knights supporter," say the couple from Huntington.

Born and bred in York, David is a former bank manager who regularly has his audiences in stitches. As opposed to the Diary's bank manager who is in stitches every time he looks in our account.

FOLLOWING our recent items about the changing BBC Radio York schedule, listener Brian Sellers writes in with some ideas to pep things up at the station.

He is not happy with certain of the presenters - we'll draw a discreet veil over who - and would like others to be given a broader brief.

"As for the presenters, there are some who are excellent and I would name Elly Fiorentini, Allan Watkiss and Sandie Dunleavy among them," writes Brian. "The rest are OK but do need to be stimulated by managing editor Matt Youdale to broaden their horizons and be more innovative.

"They should all use the history, industry and beauty of the area to create interesting programmes.

"Again, consumer affairs are barely given coverage and could be developed more than they are at present."

Now our favourite bit: "Mr Youdale should have a regular, in-depth review of the content of the Evening Press and use it as a blueprint for creative programme planning. Of course, the Evening Press isn't perfect, but neither am I!"

Updated: 10:18 Tuesday, January 17, 2006